Sulawesi earthquake/tsunami 2018

Sulawesi earthquake/tsunami 2018

The cascading events on 28 September 2018 on Sulawesi island of Indonesia are characteristic of a catastrophic disaster scenario where major earthquakes triggered near-field tsunami, major liquefaction, and landslides, which resulted in direct damages, impacts, and constrained humanitarian access. So far the disaster has claimed 2,100 fatalities and 680 are still missing. Moreover 68,451 houses were damaged or destroyed displacing 222,986 people (source: ahacentre.org).

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The double effect of earthquake and tsunami completely erased some neighborhoods.

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Hundreds of school were left damaged or completely destroyed by the disaster.

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AMURT in Indonesia is providing kindergarten teachers with psycho-social support to help themselves recover from the traumatic events and the effect on their families, as well as enabling them to welcome back and support their old students. In the two day trainings the teachers learn about the process of trauma, how to mitigate it, and how to design appropriate back to school activities for their students. After an initial pilot training the education officials in the area enthusiastically organized for AMURT to train hundreds of kindergarten teachers in the Palu and Sigi sub-districts of Sulawesi. Considering that more than 900 schools and kindergartens are affected, the students, teachers and their facilities would need assistance for months to come.

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Teachers learn stretching and breathing exercises as part of their training on practical trauma reduction.

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Kindergarten teacher share traditional songs and games as part of their psycho-social training with AMURT.